Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Chapter 38

Dumbledore led the two of us over towards the chairs that sat in front of his desk. When I looked up at him, I half-expected him to be angry with us, but he wasn't at all. In fact, it's a very rare occasion that Dumbledore ever was angry, and it was never with us.

"I'm so sorry Professor," Harry apologized. "We didn't mean to -"

"It's quite all right Harry," Dumbledore said.

He sat us down on the chairs and then went back over to the stone basin and carried it over to the desk to set it down for us all to look at. However, when I looked at the basin again, it was back to the original silvery looking substance that it had been before.

"What is it?" I asked him.

"It's called a Pensieve," Dumbledore explained. "Sometimes, when your mind is filled, this particular object can be very useful - especially if you have a particularly bad memory like myself and you wish to take a look back."

"Oh..." I said. "So...are those your thoughts?"

Dumbledore glanced back down to the silvery liquid that floated around in the basin with a small smile.

"Yes, they are," Dumbledore said. "And I believe I have a new one to add..."

He held his wand up to his head and pulled out a silver looking string-like substance from his head and placed it into the basin without hesitation. As soon as it connected with the basin, the image of Harry and me floated around and flashed around a series of events that included the forest and Snape.

That's when what I has seen moments ago suddenly hit me again. The truth that I didn't want to know about Snape. I looked up at Dumbledore in curiosity, wondering if he would tell me why he had chosen to trust Snape enough to have him on our side instead of Voldemort's. What had changed Snape's mind that made him want to switch? Was it the realization that they were going to lose or was it something entirely different?

"Curiosity isn't a sin you too," Dumbledore said. "But you should practice it with caution. Now, I do believe that you both had something to tell me before we get lost in my thoughts."

Suddenly I remembered the reason that we came in here. I had completely forgotten up to this point because of everything that we had just discovered.

"It's about something that happened in Divination today," I said. "The two of us...well, we fell asleep..."

"Understandable," Dumbledore nodded.

"Well, we both had this dream - the same one that we've both been having for a long time," Harry continued where I left off.

"It involved Wormtail - you do know who that is, right?" I asked and he nodded so I could continue. "We were looking in through a window and he was talking to...we strongly believe that it's Voldemort."

"We don't actually see him because he's hidden behind the chair that he's sitting in," Harry explained. "We can hear his voice though."

Dumbledore nodded, but made no interruptions as he urged as to continue on without actually speaking.

"Voldemort received a letter of some sort while we were watching," I said. "He said that Wormtail's blunder had been fixed and that someone was dead."

"There weren't any names mentioned," Harry said. "So we don't actually know who they were talking about."

"Then that snake came around and Voldemort told it that he wouldn't be eating Wormtail, but he was going to be fed us very soon," I said.

"Then he told Wormtail that he was going to be punished," Harry said. "When he began to torture him, both of our scars were burning really badly."

Once the story was over, Dumbledore remained silent and observant. It was as if he was expecting more to the story, but there was no more to tell.

"That's it..." Harry said quietly.

Dumbledore nodded and then began to pace around his office as soon as he stepped out of his chair. He looked like he was concentrating hard on something, like he was trying to fit together all of the pieces of a puzzle.

"Is that the only time that you two have experienced this - other than what happened during the summer?" Dumbledore asked.

"How did you know about that?" Harry asked.

"Both Sirius and Professor Snape have already informed me of what has been happening with you two," Dumbledore said casually.

"What do you think it means Professor?" I asked. "Is it real?"

"Well, I have a theory," he sat down. "I believe that the scars that you two have connect the three of you together in a way that I don't quite understand. Perhaps when Voldemort is near you or is feeling particularly emotional, the scars on your forehead begin to ache."

"Why?" Harry and I asked at once.

"Those aren't ordinary scars..." Dumbledore said quietly.

"Professor, do you think that he's getting more powerful?" Harry asked.

"There's reason to believe that," Dumbledore nodded. "This is how it started before - the disappearances...the very same..."

We both remained silent, still thinking about everything that we had seen from the dream combined with everyhing from Dumbledore's memories. There wasn't anything more to say, so we decided that it was best to end our meeting there. Harry walked out of the office, but I still needed to ask Dumbledore a few things in private, so I stood back and let Harry walk on and let him know that I would see him in a bit.

"Professor, can I speak with you for a minute longer?" I asked him.

He motioned towards the chair in front of his desk with a smile as the doors to his office closed and Harry was completely out of sight.

"Something is bothering you Emily," he said.

It wasn't a question - it was a statement. But I guess it didn't take much to know that we had a lot on my mind.

"Was it something from the dream?" he asked.

"Not exactly," I said slowly. "It's more of something that I heard in one of your memories..."

"What was said?" Dumbledore asked.

"It was about Professor Snape," I said. "You mentioned that he was...a Death Eater..."

"I see," Dumbledore said in understanding. "Severus Snape was a Death Eater for a while, but you know as well as I do that he has changed very much since then. I've heard tell that you've done your job defending him against your peers just about as much as I do with my peers."

"I've always said that he should be trusted because you trust him and that should be good enough for all of us," I said. "But...can I ask him shy you trust him?"

Dumbledore looked down at his desk and let out a great sigh and looked back up at me from behind those half-moon spectacles of his.

"I'm sorry to tell you that my reasoning is s matter between Professor Snape and myself," Dumbledore said. "But I assure you that it is a legitimate reasoning for trusting him...perhaps he'll even explain it to you himself one day..."

I nodded, still not understanding what the reasoning could possibly be. It didn't matter though, as long as I knew that there was a good reason for my defending of him for all these years.

"I may not be able to answer your question, but perhaps you could humor me in telling me your reasoning for putting your trust in Professor Snape."

Why did I trust Snape? Honestly, I had never actually even considered the reasons that I trusted him before - I just did.

"I guess..." I said slowly. "That it is because, even though he can come off as a cynical man, I can tell that there really is good in him - his intentions seem to be right even though his actions may not be the best way to handle the situations."

A smile slowly went across the old man's face as I finished saying my little thought. From the corner of his eyes, I could see a small tear roll down his cheek as he began to wipe it away.

"You remind me so much of someone else..." he said with a bright smile.

We stayed silent for a moment until Dumbledore suddenly realized something.

"I guess that you heard about Mr. Longbottom's family during that case," he said.

"I already knew what happened," I said. "Neville told me earlier this year..."

"I should have known," Dumbledore smiled. "I've noticed that the two of you are around each other quite often. Was your brother aware of the incident with Mr. Longbottom's parents before today?"

That was when I suddenly realized that Harry now knew about Neville's secret. I hope that he wouldn't say anything to anyone before I could warn him to stay quiet about it. Somehow, I doubt that he would tell anyone.

"No," I said. "No one else was told about it as far as I know."

"Could you make sure that this remains a secret between us," Dumbledore said seriously.

"I will," I said. "I know that Neville would do the same if it were me."

"I believe that you are right," he smiled. "I'm also a bit surprised with the two of you as well..."

I hope that he wasn't referring to those Rita Skeeter articles. Then again, I seriously doubted that he believed anything that the woman wrote because apparently she had come up with stories about him in the past.

"What?" I asked.

"Somehow, I used to believe that the two of you would be together," Dumbledore said.

"You mean that you thought we would end up dating one another?" I asked, feeling myself begin to blush.

"Precisely," Dumbledore nodded. "I do hope that you will excuse me, I must have embarrassed you."

"No, no, it's fine," I said.

I was slightly embarrassed though, I had never thought that even the teachers would develop thoughts such as these - like who we should or shouldn't be dating. Then again, I guess that it was a bit reasonable to believe this - Neville and I are best friends and we have been since our very first year.

"Well, perhaps you should try to find your brother now," Dumbledore said.

"Thank you Professor," I smiled.

He smiled back at me as I made my way through the door. It was odd how our conversation had gone. One moment we were talking about Dumbledore's memory involving Snape and the next thing I knew he was expressing his beliefs on my relationships. I guess that I would never truly understand Dumbledore...

As I was walking through the corridors towards the Gryffindor common room, I got lost in thought about everything that had happened in the day and ran directly into someone. I quickly lost my balance and began to fall, but was grabbed by my arm quickly so I could balance myself.

"Can you not watch where you are walking?" Draco sneered.

"Maybe if you weren't creeping around in the hallways I wouldn't have to," I retorted.

We stood there glaring at one another for a moment without saying another word.

"Thanks for not letting me fall," I finally said.

"Yeah, well," he shrugged. "What are you doing out here anyway?"

"I was just talking to Dumbledore about something," I said. "What are you doing out here alone, what happened to the rest of your group?"

"I needed to get away for a minute," Draco said. "There incredibly stupid, in case you haven't notice."

"I would have never guessed that," I said sarcastically as I thought of Crabbe and Goyle - they really aren't the brightest.

"I heard about your fall in Divination," Draco said. "What was that about?"

"It was just a headache..." I lied.

"A headache?" Draco asked skeptically. "That both of you got at the same time? I'm not an idiot Emily."

"It's complicated," I said.

Just as Draco was about to ask more, I heard footsteps coming around the corner that stopped us from speaking. It was Snape. When he saw the two of us, he raised an eyebrow as he looked from one to the other.

"What is going on here?" he asked. "If a duel is about to start, I highly suggest that it stop now before someone gets hurt."

By the way that he was looking at Draco, I had a feeling that the person he thought would get hurt would not be me. Somehow, I took that as a compliment. It wasn't often that he believed a Gryffindor to be superior to anyone in his house.

"Why would we try to duel each other?" Draco asked. "We were just - "

He must have realized suddenly that he wasn't actually supposed to be friendly towards me because he quickly switched up his game.

"Next time watch where you're going Potter," he sneered and quickly walked past Snape.

I rolled my eyes just as he turned to wave quickly at me as he turned the corner. That boy has serious issues.

"Why?" Snape asked simply.

"I don't know," I muttered as I began to walk towards the tower once again.

Snape effortlessly caught up with my pace and before long, we were walking slowly through the corridors. I didn't know what to say to him after finding out about his past. But did him once belonging to Voldemort really change anything? Since I have known him, he's done nothing but try to help. Why should it be any different now that certain assumptions had been confirmed?

"What did you see during Divination?" he asked suddenly breaking my train of thought.

"What?" I asked in surprise.

"From what I've heard, you and your brother fell over today in class and were screaming," Snape said. "This isn't another rumor, is it?"

"Well...no," I said. "That's what I was just talking about with Dumbledore."

"I see," he nodded.

I didn't feel any need in explaining what I had seen because there wasn't a doubt in my mind that Dumbledore would explain everything to him later. That and I didn't really want to talk about it again, it's not exactly one of my favorite subjects.

We remained silent for a long time. I stayed lost in thought trying to figure out why Snape had a change of heart so many years ago that suddenly made him want to switch sides. All in wonder, I forgot that Snape was even walking with me and I began to go through each of the charms individually until I came across the one that was different from them all - it was a snake. I was almost positive that it had been Severus that had given this to my mother when the bracelet had been hers.

How could he have been that terrible if my mother had even spoken to him? Maybe that was why their friendship had broken off - he had become a Death Eater. He was a Death Eater. It was still hard to even think about. Severus Snape, the man that I have looked up to as a father for the past four years, had once been on the side of the man that murdered my real parents.

But Dumbledore had said that he had switched sides before he had lost power, so maybe he wasn't involved in their murder at all. Maybe he was completely innocent of that crime. Suddenly I realized what was bothering me more than anything was that I hadn't even gotten the least bit angry after finding out that he was a Death Eater. I just couldn't bring myself to even try to hate him.

"Are you all right?" Snape asked suddenly.

When my thoughts were interrupted, I realized that we were standing in front of the Fat Lady. How long had we been there?

"I'm fine," I said quietly.

Suddenly, before anything else could be said, I threw my arms around him and hugged him tightly. For a moment, he stood still, completely shocked with my abrupt action. Then he slowly put his arms around me and held me close to him just like I imagined a father would.

Thank you for reading - I'm sorry that it's a bit late and, in advance, I apologize if there are in errors in this chapter. I'm having exams this week, so I have a pile of work and studying to do. I tried my best to get this chapter in, I hope that you all can forgive me. Once the exams are all over, I should be able to keep updating about every other day.

By the way, you all should know that there is a POLL going on at the moment on deciding who all should be involved in the graveyard scene of the third task. Due to popular demand, the poll is currently up now on my profile page on here, but it will not stay up that long because that scene is coming up fairly soon, so VOTE NOW! If you are an anonymous viewer, you may vote in the comments, but please only vote ONCE to keep everything fair. As before, if you are going to vote like this, please write the word 'VOTE' in the comment (make sure it's all caps) and then one of the three selections. I ask that you all not become angry with what the results will come out to be, this is all on you all as to what is going to happen, so please don't be angry with me for it.

As always, I would love to see fan art! If you wish to submit anything, please visit my tumblr page and click on the submissions button. That or you can send me a message with the link to your art, either way would be fine with me. Every piece that I get will be posted on both Tumblr and Twitter for everyone else to view. Thank you to everyone that has already sent some in, they are beautiful!

Follow me:

www(.)gryffindorgirl347(.)tumblr(.)com (just get rid of the parenthesis)

ShannenWrites (Twitter)

Tell me what you think! :D